Sharlene Mawdsley has lost her race against time to recover from injury and with that has withdrawn from the 400 metres at next week’s European Championships in Birmingham.Mawdsley had “pushed the limits” to get herself back on track after sustaining a hamstring tear when competing over the 200m at the National Championships in Santry a fortnight ago. The Tipperary athlete had run inside the European A-standard for the 400m six times so far this summer, improving her best to 50.06, which still ranks her the fifth fastest in Europe in 2026.In announcing the decision, she thanked her medical team and Athletics Ireland for supporting her recovery efforts over the last two weeks, but ultimately her time ran out.“I’m so sad to say that I won’t be making the start line at the European Championships next week,” she said. “We made huge progress after I was diagnosed with a tear in my hamstring, but unfortunately the timing just wasn’t on my side.“I can’t thank my team enough. They have worked around the clock to give me every possible chance, and we really pushed the limits together. To Martina McCarthy, Paul Carragher and Athletics Ireland, thank you for all your support, and to Michael Breen for being my training partner these last two weeks.”“We’ll keep working hard, and I’m looking forward to getting back on the track later this season. Down, not out.”Mawdsley had been named in both the 400m and women’s 4x400m relay as part of a bumper 47-strong Irish squad for Birmingham. It’s likely Athletics Ireland will now call up a reserve athlete to take her place in the relay, although that’s yet to be confirmed.Mawdsley turns 28 on Monday, the opening day of the championships in Birmingham, and was also set to receive a bye straight into the semi-finals of the 400m, set for Thursday, given she was ranked inside the top 12 in Europe this season.Dropping down to the 200m in Santry last month, she’d won her heat, before pulling up around 80m into the final with a hamstring injury. Rhasidat Adeleke went on to win in 22.80 seconds, with that securing her qualifying time for Birmingham at the last attempt. Adeleke is also selected for the 4x400m relay.Mawdsley had improved her previous 400m best of 50.71 seconds, set at the Paris Olympics in 2024, to 50.17, after just two of her opening individual races outdoor races. Then in her Diamond League debut in Paris in June, she clocked a fourth successive personal best of 50.06 seconds, when finishing in fifth place.Mawdsley’s level of progression in the first half of the season was no surprise given she’d already shown her promising form with a superb anchor leg for Ireland in the 4x400m relay at the World Relays in Botswana at the start of May, where she was given a split time of 48.34 seconds.Her loss will be felt in both individual and relay terms, given Mawdsley was enjoying the best season of her career.